My Dad & Mom
by ComixFan1224
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Ryan Grayson reflects on his dad. Short drabble and epilogue for Little Miracles. UPDATE: Ryan thinks of his mom and what she means not only to him, but also his family.
1. The Reason

Disclaimer: I own Ryan Grayson, whose POV this story is set in, and his sister and brother Mari and Roy Grayson, but nothing else.

This story is like an epilogue to another story of mine, 'Little Miracles,' but you don't have to read that one to understand this. It is set in Ryan Grayson's POV.

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My Dad

My dad is my hero.

He's the Captain of the Gotham City Police force and has helped clean up the streets ever since I was a little kid. But he has a secret, one that only our family and closest friends know of.

He's Gotham City's hero, The Target. He used the identity to catch the city's former Prince of Crime ten years ago, when my little brother Roy was born.

Lately he hasn't been putting on the suit as often, and I'm happy for that. After Roy, one of his closest friends who he partnered with sometimes, died, I was scared something would happen to him. Crooks already hated him as a cop… What would happen if they had found out he was The Target too?

My dad lost his parents when he was eight-years-old. I could never imagine losing even one of my own!

When I was younger, I didn't really understand why my dad got up every morning just to get shot at, but as I grew older I realized the answers were all around me, even a part of me.

I was named after an uncle and grandfather I never got to meet. Ryan Anders and Jonathon Grayson. My sister is named after my paternal grandmother, whom we also never got to meet, Mary Grayson. My little brother is named after a family friend who my sister and I can barely remember the face of, Roy Harper. The only two relatives on my dad's side are dead. Hell, most of my aunts and uncles have lost at least one person close to them. Not from old age, not from some kind of disease… No, they were murdered. Killed for no reason at all other than the stupid ones those jackasses come up with.

It's those people – some whom I've met, some I will hopefully never meet, even after I take the big dirt nap – that cause my dad to get up in the morning and put his life on the line.

He fights for them, for my mother, sister, brother and I, and for the family and friends to come. The past present and future.

Richard Grayson is my dad, and I'm proud to be his son.

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A/N: Very short, I know. It's actually only a little over three hundred and fifty words, but I hope you still enjoyed the story.

As for the continuation of the 'Detective Grayson' series, as I'm calling it now, at the moment I don't plan on posting anymore of the series. That doesn't mean that I don't have something planned, I just kind of don't feel like doing it right now. My mind is on my Teen Titans series and a new story I'm working on slowly.

I hope you enjoyed this one-shot! Please review.


	2. The Quiet Strength

Disclaimer: Ryan Grayson is my own character. Most of the other characters mentioned belong to DC Comics.

This story is set in Ryan Grayson's POV.

My Mom

A Sequel to 'My Dad'

Someone once wrote "Behind every smart man, there is an even smarter woman." At least I believe that's how the quote goes. Don't quote me on it, though.

Anyway, that quote applies to a lot of the women in my life. My grandmother, Selina, who isn't afraid to tell anyone off. My aunts, Kam and Donna, who are both very successful in their careers, my mom and dad's friend Rachel, who is one of the youngest and best doctors in the world, Uncle Roy's little sister Mia, who was a brilliant writer, Conner's wife, Cassie, who is one of the world's leading experts on mythology and a very good archeologist, and many more. The one thing all these women have in common is their quiet strength. Even at the bleakest of times, they have persevered and only become stronger.

In my opinion - which is also very biased - none of them have a greater strength than my mom, Korina Grayson. Kory for short, to her friends, but always Mom to me.

In my short fifteen years of life, I have never seen her cry, though I'm sure she has. I have always seen her by mom father's side, at his best and worst times. She has always supported and helped him, while still running Gotham's best dojo, and watching over Mari, Roy, and I.

She's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, but if you ever did something that disappointed her, you would instantly feel guilt upon seeing the very open hurt in her eyes. She wears every emotion on her sleeve, always letting others know how she feels, no matter what it may be, while at the same time, saying it in a way that would make you understand how and why she is feeling and saying those things, no matter how good, or helpful, or hurtful they may be.

While I know and understand why my dad gets up in the morning and sacrifices his time, body, and life to help save this sometimes seemingly damned city, I know he really wouldn't be able to anymore if it wasn't for my mother's support. He'd even told me once that, before my brother was born, he had been planning one retiring early.

My mom was the one that really pushed him back. She has always known what wearing that badge and putting on that suit means to my father. And while I don't really enjoy seeing him come home every few nights with a broken jaw or bruises scattered across his back, she has always been the one to wrap his wounds or calmly call Rachel for help in setting the broken bones. When he holes himself in his office, working one cases that aggravate him for reasons I still don't understand, she's always gone in and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and whispered calming words in his ear, reassuring him of her presence.

When I was little and angry that he was never there, she would always be there to comfort me, knowing I didn't understand. She even once told me, "That's exactly why he does it, Ryan. So one day, you won't really _have_ to understand. Because understanding why means having to go through exactly the same pain, and that is something your father would kill to prevent."

In a way, those words have only helped me to understand. They have helped me understand my father's strong, yet still fragile mind, and the motor that drives him, and my mother's own quiet strength that have helped keep this family together.

Only God knows what would have happened to the rest of us without her and I know I _never_ want to find out!

A/N: So when I first posted 'My Dad' I was also asked to write a sequel about Kory. Took me a while, but I finally got it up here. And with this chapter I would also like to announce that once I get my new word processor, I will be continuing my Detective Grayson series on a much smaller scale with a collection of short stories and one-shots that can be from any point in this universe's history, so be on the lookout for that.

This story was written on my friend's computer, so I'd like to thank her for allowing me to use it to type this story up while I still work on my transfers.

Hope you all enjoyed it! Please review!


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